Making A Difference

Loyal McBone readers are certainly aware that we are very environmentally conscious. It is an important issue in our own personal day-to-day actions, and one that we analyze carefully when voting for political candidates. Family oriented as we are, it would be nice to leave a world for our children and grandchildren in which they can live comfortably, as we've all been lucky enough to do.

So what am I getting at? We here at McBone Inc. officially challenge each and every single one of you out there to "Make A Difference". We are not asking for you to go out and buy a hybrid car tomorrow, or install solar panels onto your homes. Why not simply be conscious of your surroundings, and be aware of the little things you can do on an everyday basis? Pick up a piece of trash on the sidewalk, recycle at your house or don't allow gasoline to spill when you are filling up at the gas pump. Any and all of these things, little as they may be, contribute significantly over time to the health of our planet.

Just two weeks ago I wrote a letter to the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert (my employer), and suggested switching our office from styrofoam cups to paper. Why, you might ask? Styrofoam, also known as polystyrene, is an enviromentally unfriendly plastics product. Plastics are derived from petroleum which is a non-renewable resource. Enough said. A styrofoam cup gets used one time and then the cup spends its entire life in a garbage heap. Unlike a styrofoam cup, a paper cup has an afterlife: it can be used to make other useful products. Also, paper comes from trees, and trees, unlike petroleum, are a renewable resource. Lastly, and most importantly, paper is biodegradable. What this means is that paper can rot, but Styrofoam cannot.

Now take into account that there are 300 employees in my office. I can say with confidence that 70% of those people either drink coffee or tea every single day using those cups. That is 210 cups per day. Our office is probably open 350 days a year with full staff. That is 73,500 styrofoam cups a year, and that doesn't include people who use more than one a day or the constant traffic of visiting clients using them as well. You get the point.

I walked into the office today and there were paper cups now occupying the dispensers. One simple mail proclaiming Dan could improve his company's reputation by becoming environmentally friendly and it was done. It took 5 minutes to write that email and an entire company has changed its policy. It is that simple and it is that easy.

So we ask you, McBoners, and we send out to you a personal challenge: what can you do today? What can you do to help your children have a clean, safe and healthy place to live? We can't wait around any longer for someone else to handle it. If we all aren't proactive then we don't have a prayer of making any real change

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